Ur Energy Inc Common Shares (Canada)

Greetings. Welcome to the UR Energy Q1 2026 conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Alex Ritchie, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. You may begin.

Thank you. Today's discussion includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. We do not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law. Today's presentation includes disclaimers relating to forward-looking statements, risk factors, and projections, along with cautionary notes to investors. Please review these carefully together with the risk factors described in our Form 10-K and our other public filings with the SEC and Canadian securities regulators. I'll now turn the call over to our CEO and President, Matt Gilley.

Thank you, Alex, on slide three. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today. In addition to Alex, joining me on the call are Roger Smith, our CFO, Steve Hatton, our Chief Operating Officer, Ryan Shearman, VP of Regulatory Affairs, and Jane Wally, VP of Finance. It is an exciting time to be a U.S. training producer. the nuclear and uranium market environment continues to strengthen and support our long-term growth strategy. Electricity demand growth driven by AI data center development is increasingly pushing the world towards nuclear energy for clean, reliable, baseload power. Nuclear momentum continues to build through reactor restarts, life extension programs, and SMR development initiatives. Recently, countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan that depend on LNG imports have increased efforts to restart their or expand nuclear generation in response to the closing of the Straits of Hormuz. And just a few weeks ago, TerraPower broke ground on the first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant here in the state of Wyoming. At the same time, U.S. government policies and programs are supporting domestic nuclear fuel supply chains and regulatory reforms intended to accelerate nuclear deployment. In January, the Department of Energy announced approximately $2.7 billion in contract awards to support the development of domestic low-enriched uranium and HIASI low-enriched uranium enrichment capacity. Long-term demand growth is expected to require significant new mine development. And while the nuclear industry is increasingly focused on a secure uranium supply, only about 4% of uranium deliveries to U.S. utilities in 2024 were U.S. origin. We believe these market tailwinds continue to highlight the strategic importance of domestic uranium production. Now let's talk about we, UR Energy, are doing to contribute to the transformation of the nuclear industry. Slide four. The first quarter of 2026 brought several meaningful operational wins as we continue executing on our uranium production growth strategy. At Lost Creek, We improved our operational performance, which reflects the work we've been doing to improve flow rates. We captured 110,000 pounds on resin during the first quarter. That is an increase of 41% over the last quarter and 48% more than the first quarter of 2025. We dried and packaged 96,000 pounds during the quarter and increased finished inventory at the conversion facility to more than 417,000 pounds, which is a 14% increase since year end. We also continue to improve our cost profile at Lost Creek. The average cash cost per pound sold dropped 13% quarter over quarter to $37.5 per pound. This cost amount per pound includes ad valorem and severance taxes. We sold 55,000 pounds during the quarter, which was in line with our committed delivery schedule. Note that our delivery schedule for 2026 is heavily weighted towards the second half of the year as we continue to ramp up with both months. Our average sales price was $71 per pound, which is a 12% increase over the fourth quarter of 2025, as our sales this quarter were under newer contracts with more favorable pricing structures. We ended the quarter with $123 million of unrestricted cash. On slide five, Lost Creek. Looking forward to Lost Creek, we drummed over 57,000 pounds in April. That's our highest monthly total since we decided to ramp up operations in 23. Our production trend at Lost Creek continues to move in the right direction, but we are still focused on better optimizing operations and increasing production rates. We've made some great strides ramping up production rates at Lost Creek. However, our flow rates continue to be impacted by fine particles from the host formation. To manage these fines, we are installing and commissioning a sand filter system that is on schedule to come online this quarter. Our 2026 production plans in the wellfield are focused on phase two of the first mine unit, mine unit number one. These plans remain on schedule, with the new header house continuing to come online. We continue to prepare for the next mine unit, mine unit five, to come online in 2027. Again, while production is trending in the right direction, we believe the specific initiatives that are underway position Lost Creek for stronger production performance as the year progresses. Slide six, Shirley Basin operations. The company reached a major milestone in April when we commenced initial mining operations at our Shirley Basin mine. After Wyoming regulators completed their inspection, we brought our first header house online and we are now capturing uranium on resin from production solutions. Construction and wellfield development activities at Shirley Basin accelerated and have progressed significantly during the first quarter. By the end of the quarter, we had pilot drilled 540 production and injection wells cased 312 of these wells, and constructed five header houses. We've been operating eight drills in line with our production needs. Shirley Basin is a satellite facility. We will be transporting uranium-loaded resin to Lost Creek for final processing and packaging. So our next major milestone is to start moving resin to Lost Creek. At this point, the infrastructure at Shirley Basin is substantially complete. Subject to our additional and final regulatory approval, we expect to start these shipments in the summer. This integrated operating model enhances efficiency, supports production scalability, and should substantially increase our uranium production. Curley Basin is a historically significant uranium district that played an important role in the early development of ISR mining in Wyoming, and we are on track to bring this back into commercial production soon. Flight 7, our Wyoming ISR drill portfolio. Beyond our operating projects, we continue exploration activities across our Wyoming project portfolio that will support development decisions. At our Lost Soldier project, we commenced aquifer testing in April and plan to start baseline environmental studies this year. We are on plan to have an updated technical report, including economics, completed by year end. There are 4,000 historic drill holes at Lost Soldier, and it is close to Lost Creek. the project has strong potential to be a future satellite operation that leverages our existing infrastructure we also completed 33 exploration drill holes at our north hassle project before the seasonal sage cross restrictions started in march the results include excuse me 13 ore grade intercepts and indicates potential for a stacked roll front isr system with up to eight individual roll fronts Looking ahead, we also have plans to begin a drill program of approximately 120 holes at our Lost Creek South property later this summer, with the goal to further extend Lost Creek into new mine units. And on slide 8, closing, we enter the second quarter with $123 million in cash, over 417,000 pounds of uranium inventory at the conversion facility, and momentum building on both of our operating mines. As we move through 2026, our priorities remain focused. Continue to increase flow rates and optimizing operations at Lost Creek. Achieve commercial production this summer at Shirley Basin, followed by production ramp up. Continue to advance our Wyoming exploration portfolio towards development decision. Continue to improve our safety culture and performance, which has already seen significant improvement. and meet our 2026 uranium sales agreement commitment from existing inventory and production. On that point, our production plans still support our potential to meet these commitments after commencing shipments from Shirley Basin, bringing the sand filters online at Lost Creek and our other initiatives to continue to increase production. As I mentioned, a substantial majority of our deliveries are scheduled for later in the year. We are capturing uranium at Shirley Basin. and are close to having two ISR uranium mines in commercial production. We are improving our production momentum, we are advancing our Wyoming ISR project pipeline, and we have a strong balance sheet. We are also bullish on the need for a larger supply of U.S.-produced uranium for an expanding nuclear industry. As one of the few U.S. uranium mining companies that is actually producing uranium, we believe your energy is well-positioned to help meet the growing demand. And with that, I'll turn the call back to the operator to open up the Q&A.